I was working on the hero of my next book and found I couldn’t get anything real out of him. He was a bit two-dimensional. Flat. Too single purposed. I went through my standard exercises – dark wound, lie, fear, secret desire, true destiny… You can see that here: Dark Moment: Being yanked from his school, his family, his home to go to another boarding school. Lie: Don’t get close. Don’t open your heart too wide. Fear: Love involves pain. He’s even assigned that to God. Look what He did to His own son. But Tanner knows God is real and true, and he must seek Him. But is standoffish Secret desire/true identity: ?? What can he do in the end he can’t do in the beginning? Be honest about […]
Read the RestArchive | Brainstorming Strategies and Tips RSS feed for this section
Brainstorming Strategy #4: Brainstorming Peripheral Plot Possibilities
There are sometimes when we just get slammed unexpectedly with something in life. Out of the blue an old flame returns to town, our car breaks down, our mother-in-law comes to stay for a month, we are offered a new job, etc. We shake our heads and say, “I never saw that one coming.” That would be the peripheral plot in a novel. Something on the edges of the story that is believable that comes in to impact what is going to happen. Brainstorming peripheral plot possibilities is a great strategy to lift the sag in the middle of your novel. It helps you to break through predictability and keep tension on the page where your reader wants to know what is going to happen next. So how do we […]
Read the Rest
TEE’s What and Why: Boy Scout Moment
Say the words “Boy Scout” and most people will think “Be prepared.” (That’s the Boy Scout Motto.) Or they might think of words like trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous … (These are parts of the 12 Points of the Scout Law. I know this because my husband, who is an Eagle Scout, recited all 12 Points to me in rapid-fire succession. Once a Scout, always a Scout.) And yes, this Scout trivia is applicable to writing a novel. What: Boy Scout Moment This is a sweet moment in the beginning of the book where we glimpse the hero or heroine doing something kind – petting a dog, saving a cat, helping an old woman across the street (Boy Scout, remember?) –that functions to create likeability of your character. Why: I […]
Read the Rest
Learning from Pixar: Storytelling Rule #7
Recently Pixar’s 22 Storytelling Rules circulated on the Internet. Being as the Pixar gave us great movies like Toy Story and Cars, I figure they might know what they’re doing. Another fun tidbit, my office – the turret tower – was designed and built by a Pixar artist. Fun huh? I feel a bit of connection with Pixar because of it. I picked rule number seven to discuss today. Here it is: #7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. Most writers start out with an idea. We see the beginning. We have an idea of the inciting incident and how it might move toward the middle of the book, but rarely do we know the ending […]
Read the Rest
